BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015  PRESIDENTS DAY ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME SNOW ENDS, BITTER COLD AND GUSTY WINDS BRING WIND CHILLS DOWN INTO THE -30S Snow came to end late yesterday morning as winds began to increase. A peak gust of 53 MPH from the NW came at 4:30 PM EST, as winds continued to gust steadily into the 40-50 MPH range. The fastest mile was 42 MPH, occurring at the same time as the peak gust. Overnight into early this morning temperatures dipped into the lower single digits below zero, with -8F recorded as our lowest temperature. Drifting and blowing snow has created massive drifts of snow throughout the summit, with blowing snow being observed below the summit in neighboring towns and across open spaces. Snow surveys conducted yesterday in different sites across the summit of Great Blue Hill have indicated an average snow depth of 46 inches, which is now the greatest snow depth ever measured in our 130 year existence. This record beats out the old record of 43 inches set back in March of 1969 during another epic winter.  Snow for the season now totals 125.2, placing this season at Blue Hill firmly in third place for the snowiest season on record. Following today's storm, February 2015 is also the snowiest February on record, as well as the snowiest month on record. This latest storm has also made it onto the list of  single greatest storm totals in February and all time. See below: BHO Greatest Snowstorms, inches (1885-2015): 1) 38.7 on 24-28 Feb, 1969 2) 30.8 on 26-28 Jan, 2015 3) 30.3 on 3-5 Mar, 1960 4) 30.1 on 6-7 Feb, 1978 5) 30.0 on 31 Mar - 1 Apr, 1997 6) 29.8 on 6-8 Mar, 2013 7) 27.7 on 7-10 Feb, 2015 8) 26.6 on 8-9 Feb, 2013 9) 24.7 on 17-18 Feb, 2003 10) 24.3 on 5-7 Dec, 2003 11) 23.0 on 5-7 Mar, 2001 12) 22.2 on 16-17 Feb, 1958 13) 21.6 on 14-15 Feb, 2015 14) 21.0 on 9-10 Feb, 1969 BHO Greatest February Snowstorms, inches (1885-2015): 1) 38.7 on 24-28 Feb, 1969 2) 30.1 on 6-7 Feb, 1978 3) 27.7 on 7-10 Feb, 2015  4) 26.6 on 8-9 Feb, 2013 5) 24.7 on 17-18 Feb, 2003 6) 22.2 on 16-17 Feb, 1958 7) 21.6 on 14-15 Feb, 2015 8) 21.0 on 9-10 Feb, 1969 BHO Snowiest February, inches (1885-2015): 1) 71.3 in 2015 (through Feb 16 at 1:00 PM EST) 2) 65.4 in 1969 3) 51.3 in 2003 4) 45.2 in 1967 5) 40.4 in 1920 6) 39.7 in 2013 7) 37.0 in 1893 BHO Snowiest January-February, inches (1886-2015): 1) 114.2 in 2015 (through Feb 16 at 1:00 PM EST) 2) 77.9 in 1948 3) 70.2 in 2005 4) 68.7 in 1904 5) 67.5 in 1920 6) 66.9 in 1994 BHO Greatest Snow Depth, inches (1895-2015): 1) 46 in February 2015 2) 43 in March 1969 3) 42 in January 1948 4) 41 in February 1969 5) 39 in February 1948 6) 38 in February 1920    7) 33 in February 1978    33 in January 1996 9) 31 in February 2003    31 in February 2011 11)30 in March 1960    30 in March 1978 Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus distant offshore NE-SE, few altocumulus distant N-NE, drifting snow in all directions Temperature: -4F; Dew Point: -16F; Wind: WNW at 21G29 kts, Peak Wind: 31 kts WNW @ 6:07 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.89 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly Visibility: 80 miles 6-hr max temp: -4F 6-hr min temp: -8F 24-hr precip: 0.21 inches 24 hr snowfall: 2.5 inches  Snow depth: 45 inches  BHO SA 1155 CLR 80 121/-4/-16/3021G29/989/ FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR NE-SE FEW AC DSNT N-NE DRFTG SNW ALQDS NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 2.5 INS PK WND 3031/07/ 8/530 4/045 53024 ASOS 60180 70223 MANUAL 70021 11004 21008 10 A.M.  Weather: Clear, few cirrus distant S-WSW, drifting snow in all directions, blowing snow below summit SE Temperature: 6F; Dew Point: -14F; Wind: WNW at 19G28 kts Peak Wind: 31 knots WNW @ 9:39 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.92 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly Visibility: 80 miles 3-hr precip: None 3-hr snowfall: None BHO SA 1455 CLR 80 132/6/-14/3019G28/992/ FEW CI DSNT S-WSW DRFTG SNW ALQDS BLSN BLO SMT SE PK WND 3031/39/ 8/005 51011 SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....18   NORMAL.....37 MIN.....-6   NORMAL.....19 MEAN.....6   NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...........................-22 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..........................-153 [-10.4 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............59  DEPARTURE..........+22 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............726  DEPARTURE.........+152      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........4074  DEPARTURE..........-31 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4105  DIFFERENCE.........-31 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................53 NW  AT  4:30 P.M.                       ASOS....................... MISSING **                    DAVIS......................56 NW  AT  4:30 P.M. RMY 59 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................42 NNW AT  4:31 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE................. MISSING **     MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................37 NNW AT  4:31 P.M.       AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............24.0 NNW                        ASOS..................... MISSING **                       DAVIS....................19.9 NNW [329 degrees]  * last of several occurrences... **ASOS SENSOR CURRENTLY DOWN   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.21  DEPARTURE.....+0.06                          ASOS..............N/A *** TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.47  DEPARTURE.....+3.40                           ASOS...............N/A ***   TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........10.64  DEPARTURE.....+4.35                          ASOS...............N/A ***  *** ASOS February and annual totals not available due to erroneous readings on February 9-10th. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........2.5  DEPARTURE......+2.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............71.3  DEPARTURE.....+63.9 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............125.2  DEPARTURE.....+84.7   PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/RMY GUST RMY:  R.M. Young wind gust recording system  TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 2/1  28/8/18/-8/0.00/0.0/.../..               29 WNW RMY N/A 2/2  29/8/19/-7/1.53/16.5/000/00              44 NE  RMY 46 2/3  21/0/11/-15/0.00/0.0/.../..              31 NW  RMY N/A             2/4  36/14/25/-1/0.00/0.0/.../..              31 S   RMY 33 2/5  34/4/19/-7/0.15/3.5/.../..               38 NW  RMY 39 2/6  19/-2/9/-17/0.00/0.0/.../..              28 NW  RMY 27     2/7  25/14/20/-7/..../.../.../..              25 WSW RMY N/A 2/8  29/11/20/-7/..../.../000/00              30 NNE RMY 29 2/9  19/12/16/-11/..../.../000/00             29 N   RMY 28 2/10 28/12/20/-7/..../.../.../..              29 N   RMY 29 2/11 24/15/20/-7/0.03/1.4/.../..              30 N   RMY 29 2/12 28/14/21/-6/0.02/0.6/.../..              31 NW  RMY N/A 2/13 20/2/11/-17/0.00/0.0/.../..              35 NW  RMY 35 2/14 26/1/14/-14/..../.../.../..              24 NW  RMY N/A 2/15 18/-6/6/-22/..../.../.../.. 53 NW RMY 59 2/16 morning low temp: -8F since midnight, normal low is now 19 DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2015 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 2 FEBRUARY 2015 SNOWFALL 16.5 INS. surpasses previous record:  5.5 ins. in 1916, 1934 DAILY EXTREMES  Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):                                                     RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 16 HIGH 62F IN 1954 LOW -16F IN 1943 PRECIP 1.91 INCHES IN 1958 SNOWFALL 18.6 INCHES IN 1958 PEAK GUST 78 MPH W IN 1967 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 17 HIGH 61F IN 1981 LOW -16F IN 1896 PRECIP 1.86 INCHES IN 2003 SNOWFALL 20.0 INCHES IN 2003 PEAK GUST 72 MPH NW IN 1968 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald